Wednesday, March 12, 2014

I love baking with nuts and usually have at least one kind of them around – I keep them in the freezer so they’ll last longer without going rancid. Sometimes I go crazy and buy too much of a certain kind of nut and then, even with the help of the freezer, I have to find a way to use the precious ingredients.

The small package of flaked almonds in my freezer begging to be used coincided with the arrival of this adorable cookbook, and being a huge fan of cinnamon rolls only added to the equation – it was easy to pick the first recipe to be tried. The buns turned out delicious, ridiculously tender and perfumed with the cinnamon, with some crunch added by the almonds. They do take some time to be put together, I admit it, but it was a cloudy day and I had no intention to go out, therefore it was a perfect project.

Put the flour in the bowl of a stand mixer, make a well in the center and put the yeast and sugar into the well. Pour the milk over the well, toss some flour over the milk to cover it, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
Add the salt, egg, cardamom and vanilla to the rested mixture and mix at low speed to combine (or mix with a wooden spoon). Mix on low-medium speed for 5 minutes (or knead by hand for 10). Add the butter and mix for another 5 minutes (or 10 by hand), until you get a smooth, elastic dough – at this point my dough was too wet from the butter, so I added 20g all purpose flour and it became smooth and soft. Transfer to a lightly buttered large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 2 hours.
For the filling, mix the butter, sugars and cinnamon until incorporated. Set aside. Lightly butter a 20x30cm (8x12in) baking pan.

Punch the dough down and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Roll it to a 60x30cm (24x12in) rectangle. Spread the dough evenly with the cinnamon butter, then sprinkle with the almonds. Starting from the longest side of the rectangle, roll the dough tightly into a cylinder and pinch the seams to seal. Cut the cylinder into 12 equal slices and place them, cut side up, into prepared pan. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let the buns prove for 45 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.
In a small bowl, beat together with a fork the egg, water, salt and granulated sugar. Brush the buns with the glaze and sprinkle generously with the demerara sugar and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then unmold and place upside up on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.